Business Milestones

■ Capital Investment Cos. recently added 15 independent registered financial advisors to its offices in North Carolina and South Carolina. Brad Helms joined Integrated Advisory Services, which has an office in Winston-Salem.

■ Sally T. Jenkins, a certified public accountant with more than 10 years experience in corporate tax, has joined Smith Leonard PLLC in High Point as a tax manager. Jenkins has worked for international corporate tax departments and has knowledge in mergers and acquisitions of corporations.

Also, Mitchell L. Garrison, a certified public accountant with more than 19 years experience in both public and private accounting, has been promoted to manager at Smith Leonard PLLC. He has served clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, construction, insurance and not-for-profits.

■ J. Aaron Bennett has joined Carruthers & Roth P.A. in Greensboro as an associate to the firm's business, tax and estates practice group. His practice focuses on estate planning, business law, and employee benefits.

■ Dr. Dana Koch has joined the staff of The Hearing Clinic as an audiologist and Brandi Wilson has joined the staff as an audiology assistant. Koch previously was associated with an otolaryngology practice in Virginia Beach. Wilson received a bachelor of science degree from Bennett College for Women. The Hearing Clinic has locations in Asheboro, Greensboro and High Point.

■ Mike Crespi has been promoted to director of the new Corporate Relations department within the Wake Forest Schools of Business Career Management Center. Crespi joined Wake Forest in 2004 as the associate director of Business Development in the business school's Career Management Center.

■ Tom Brown was recently named Tobacco Program Officer of the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund in Raleigh. Brown will coordinate the trust's $17 million initiative on tobacco use prevention and cessation. Before joining the trust, Brown was the national director of Faith in Action, one of the largest initiatives of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

■ Dennis Newman has been appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Individual Income Taxation Technical Resource Panel for the 2009-2010 volunteer-service year. Newman is a tax manager at Sharrard, McGee & Co. P.A. He has 19 years of accounting and tax experience, with more than 13 years with Sharrard McGee & Co.

■ These people were recently promoted from assistant professor to associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine: Dr. Michael L. Adler, the director of clinical operations, department of Family and Community Medicine; Dr. Lorraine N. Arias, inpatient anesthesiology; Dr. Hal H. Atkinson, the clinical fellowship director, geriatrics and gerontology; Alan H. Baydush, radiation oncology; Dr. Sarah Bodin, inpatient anesthesiology; Dr. Sharon M. Castellino, pediatrics; Laura H. Coker, public health sciences and neurology; Christos Constantinidis, neurobiology and anatomy; Dr. Jingzhong Ding, internal medicine-gerontology; Dr. Mathew S. Edwards, general surgery; Dr. Thomas L. Ellis, neurosurgery; Dr. Michael T. Fitch, the director of the emergency medicine simulation program; Jason M. Grayson, microbiology and immunology; Dr. Erica L. Hartmann, internal medicine – nephrology; Dr. James Jason Hoth, general surgery; Dr. John R. Hoyle, internal medicine – cardiology; Fang-Chi Hsu, biostatistical sciences; Steven J. Kridel, cancer biology; Dr. George A. Kulik, cancer biology; Dr. Yongmei Liu, epidemiology; Dr. Nadja M. Lesko, radiology; Dr. Susan A. Melin, hematology and oncology; Dr. Judith K. Messura, dentistry; Michelle M. Nicolle, physiology and pharmacology; Dr. James J. O'Brien, pediatric anesthesiology; Dr. Elizabeth L. Palavecino, pathology; Dr. Gregory J. Pomper, pathology; Dr. Paul J. Sagerman, pediatrics; Dr. Maria C. Sam, neurology; Karin D. Scarpinato, cancer biology; Janet A. Tooze, public health sciences-biostatistics; Dr. Lisa Washburn, pediatrics; Dr. Deborah M. Whelan, inpatient anesthesiology; and Dr. Preston R. Miller III, general surgery.

■ John Woodmansee recently won the designation Inspector By Review by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors. He joins only four other home inspectors in North Carolina who have attained this peer review distinction. In the Inspector Review examination, the inspector candidate must discover all of the "must find" defects in a test home and report them properly. Woodmansee, who has been a home inspector for 25 years, is the owner of The Home Inspector Co. in Winston-Salem. He is the co-author of Product and Design Failures, 2009.

■ First Community Bank was recognized in the August issue of US Banker magazine. With an average three-year return on equity ratio of 9.80, First Community Bank was ranked No. 55 on the magazine's list of Top 100 Mid-tier banks in the United States. The list was generated by comparing the average return on equity for all banks with total assets ranging from $2 billion to $10 billion over a three-year period, 2005-2008. Return on equity is an accounting ratio that projects what kind of return investors can expect on their money. It is a common measuring stick for the financial well-being of a company.

■ Andy Rinehart, a student in the full-time MBA program at the Wake Forest University Schools of Business, has been chosen as a writer for BusinessWeek's MBA Journal. Rinehart hopes to become a JD/MBA candidate through a dual program with the Wake Forest University School of Law. As a nontraditional student, he entered the Wake Forest Schools of Business with eight years of military service.

■ From more than 2,300 schools surveyed by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review, the Wake Forest University Schools of Business were recognized as having one of the top 50 entrepreneurship programs in the country. Wake Forest ranked 24th in the graduate category of the survey.

■ D'essense, a direct selling company of luxury perfume in the United States, said that Wanda Cole of Winston-Salem, the owner of Cuts-n-Curls Salon, is one of 11 consultants who have achieved President's Club status.

■ Freedom Mobility Aids in Winston-Salem was recently appointed as the exclusive dealer of AdaptaVan wheelchair accessible vans in North Carolina. AdaptaVans are customizable wheelchair accessible vehicles tailored to the needs of physically challenged and disabled individuals.

■ The N.C. Home Builders Association recently recognized these Winston-Salem area winners of the annual STARS Awards, an awards program that honors the achievements of home building industry professionals:

Zack Rothrock Builders Inc., Winston-Salem HBA: Best Brochure/Direct Mail piece for a project by a builder with less than 50 residences per year; Best Color Ad, full page or under, for a builder, developer, associate, realty company, or community (Builder), for the "What can your home be?" ad series.

Topsider Homes, Winston-Salem HBA: Best Brochure/ Direct Mail piece for a project by a builder with more than 50 residences per year; Best Newsletter for a builder, developer, associate or realty company; and Best Internet Website for a Builder or Developer.

Pine Hall Brick, members of the Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Hickory-Catawba Valley, Davidson County and Greensboro HBAs: Best Radio Commercial.

Builders Art & Graphics Inc., Winston-Salem HBA: Best Website for an associate, supplier or realty company, for www.builderdisplay


express.com.

MKT Real Estate Group for Real Estate Radio, Winston-Salem HBA: Best Special Marketing Project, for creatively promoting their company and educating consumers through radio.

■ Bill Stallings, a commercial real estate loan administrator, for BB&T in Winston-Salem, was recently awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member designation by the CCIM Institute. Stallings was among the 199 commercial real estate professionals from across the nation who earned the designation by passing the Institute's Comprehensive Examination, the final component in the designation process.

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